Coal news and updates

VOC mandates 20,000 mt daily cargo handling for berth No. 9

April 21: The management of V O Chidambaranar Port, on April 16, mandated that only deep draft vessels with a minimum output of 20,000 tons per day will be allowed to use berth number 9 to achieve its target of handling 32 million tons (mt) of cargo in 2014-15.

According to information provided by a shipping company to ICMW, a circular from the port to the shipping agents says, "The Ministry of Shipping, Government of India, has fixed a target of 32 mt for this port to be handled for 2014-2015. In order to achieve the stiff target fixed by the ministry, this port is expected to handle a minimum of one lakh tons (0.10 mt) per day."

The port management decided that the deep draft vessels in the 9th berth have to hire two mobile harbour cranes with a capacity of 120 mt and handle a minimum 20,000 tons in three shifts. The failure of the same will result in a penalty on berth hire charges. The penalty charge will be 1/5th of the berth hire actually utilised, the circular said.

Earlier, the port could not strictly follow the rules before the installation of two mobile harbour cranes. But now, with the cranes installed, the port will follow the rule strictly, the circular added.